SOPAPILLA CHEESECAKE BARS

We recently moved our office to a new location. We decided to do a meet and greet with our new 'neighbors' in the other side of the office. We had hamburgers and hot dogs and all the trimmings. I have had this recipe saved for a long time. It's been around a while but I just now managed to try it out. I had two people ask for the recipe so I think it is a good one for a pot luck.

SOPAPILLA CHEESECAKE BARS

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent rolls
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush melted butter inside a 9 x 13 pan. Remove 1 can of dough and press seams together and line the pan. Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Pour over bottom dough. Unroll second can of dough and press seams together and lay on top of cream cheese layer. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Cool and put in refrigerator to chill. Cut into squares.

Marble Cake

It seems most of my posts are about birthday cakes at work. The problem is it's hard to blog about them unless it is something new. I had never made a marble cake so I went searching for one and found this one on a blog I had in my favorites Baking Bites. I found that it's tricky getting the chocolate mixed with the vanilla batter though.

BLACK AND WHITE MARBLE CAKE

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9×13-inch baking pan. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, cocoa powder, hot water and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Whisk to combine and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla and sour cream. Working in two or three additions, alternate adding flour mixture and milk to butter mixture (ending with addition of flour), mixing until no streaks of flour remain. Scoop out 1 cup of cake batter and stir into cocoa mixture. Spread white batter into prepared pan. Top with chocolate batter and drag a knife through to create a swirling pattern (don’t over marble, though!). Bake for 32-36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar and cocoa in a medium saucepan and whisk until cocoa is dissolved. Add butter, milk, corn syrup and salt, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a boil (about 10 minutes). Continue boiling; stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature (approx 1 hour). Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla and pour on cake. Frosting will spread easily and will set up itself after a few minutes.